Anglo American agreed a £405 million ($527 million) rescue deal with Sirius Minerals this week. The takeover is a lifeline for Sirius which faced collapse if it could not find alternative funding for its struggling Woodsmith polyhalite mining project in the UK. But what is the benefit for Anglo?’
With the sponsors of the Formosa 2 offshore wind project having having reached financial close on a heavily ECA-backed project financing, confidence in the bankability of Taiwan's developing offshore wind market should be back on the up. But there are still reservations about availability of local liquidity for future deals and whether the predicted deal pipeline will deliver given the potential re-licensing of nuclear.
Against all the odds, over the past six years Colombian infrastructure development bank FDN has catalysed a mix of infrastructure funding sources that had never existed in Colombia before. TXF talks to Clemente del Valle – key architect of FDN and who very recently retired as president – about his new projects; the past, present and future of Colombia’s $15 billion 4G road-building programme and creating new infrastructure funding resources.
Nachtigal set the financing template for hydro in Cameroon in late 2018. Now a very ambitious project more than four times the size of Nachtigal is underway, but is it too much too soon in terms of of bankability?
Contrarian views on the recent HSBC and AllianzGI secondary market trade asset solution aimed at coaxing institutional investors into the trade finance space are explored here. Is the solution all that new? For sure, you can’t please all the investors and analysts all the time, but have they got a point?
The $700 million cash-for-metal deal, signed between Duferco and JSW Steel, is the largest trade finance facility ever arranged for an Indian steel company. But will the first deal of this size to close in the steel industry since the financial crisis serve as a financing template for future deals?
The $700 million cash-for-metal deal, signed between Duferco and JSW Steel, is the largest trade finance facility ever arranged for an Indian steel company. But will the first deal of this size to close in the steel industry since the financial crisis serve as a financing template for future deals?
The credibility and policing of ESG-linked loans, which are currently enjoying growing popularity with commodity traders, could be markedly improved via the adoption of blockchain. But in the commodity space, that technological leap appears very distant – for now.
Vodafone has been using complex financial engineering devised by GAM and Greensill to enable it to profit from and invest in its own SCF offerings and bolster its DPO. The trouble is the system leaves little reason for procurers to pay suppliers on time.
The UK's ECA, UKEF, has provided financings for Iraqi power-generation projects for both GE and Siemens, as the industrial conglomerates go toe-to-toe for lucrative electricity-generation contracts in the Middle Eastern nation.
TXF sat down with Massimo Falcioni, chief executive officer of Etihad Credit Insurance, to discuss the UAE’s plans for its brand new ECA.
In late 2018 HSBC structured a multi-jurisdictional import financing that inaugurated a rare joint venture between ADMC and Cargill in the Egyptian soybean sector.
Liberty House’s recent Aluminium Dunkerque deal is both its first syndicated bank acquisition financing and a novel de-risked structure that includes a syndicated commodity price hedging agreement for the smelter. Given Liberty's expansion plans, it is unlikely to be a one-off.
Liberty House’s recent Aluminium Dunkerque deal is both its first syndicated bank acquisition financing and a novel de-risked structure that includes a syndicated commodity price hedging agreement for the smelter. Given Liberty's expansion plans, it is unlikely to be a one-off.
Petroperu's $1.3 billion CESCE-backed facility had to navigate four changes of government in two countries to finally reach financial close last month. But the deal still broke all records for ECA project financing into the country.
The IDFC — which could eventually incorporate US Exim — will see the US try to take on the Chinese development banks at their own game. TXF asks how that will play out both in terms of feasibility and the wider impact on development as a tool of foreign policy.
The 2019 expiration of the Investment Tax Credit is unlikely to put the dampers on a US offshore wind sector that looks set to take off.
A ground-breaking $1 billion synthetic securitisation by the AfDB could serve as the template for unlocking trillions of dollars of investment for emerging markets project development.
According to 167 capital equipment exporters surveyed by TXF and Clevis Research, EDC was top performing ECA In 2017. But much of the competition was poor, with many ECAs failing to live up to their performances of the previous two years.
TXF/Clevis' latest survey of 167 capital equipment exporters shows improved delivery year-on-year from all export finance banks. Credit Agricole is cited as top global lender, with Santander and HSBC coming in second and third.
Based on feedback from 53 major importers from across the globe. UniCredit is the top performing import finance bank, according to the TXF/Clevis Research second annual Importers' Market Survey.
Export credit agencies improved the quality and delivery of their service in 2017, according to TXF/Clevis Research’s survey of 53 major capital-equipment importers.
The reintroduction of US sanctions on Iran has got export financiers questioning the extent of their export credit agencies’ support. What is covered and what is not? The answers are inconsistent and vague.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan to open up its economy to private investment is progressing – albeit slowly. But while PPP development in the centralised state was always going to be a slow burn, there are now also doubts that promised Saudi privatisation plans will ever deliver.
Peru’s investment grade rating and favourable legal framework for foreign investment has helped build its investment promotion agency ProInversion's $11 billion PPP pipeline. TXF spoke with Cesar Martín Penaranda, the agency's director of investor relations, to find out how many of these projects will reach financial close, and whether there's reality behind the rhetoric.
Reverse factoring has been implicated in the demise of two of Europe’s largest corporations – Abengoa and Carillion. Can the holes in reverse factoring accounting regulation be filled to prevent potential large corporation abuse of SMEs in the supply chain finance system?
Precious metals trading is a tough market to survive in without a bulging balance sheet. But in just 14 years Auramet has gone from zero to $11 billion in revenue and has now debuted in the syndicated loan market. Auramet chief financial officer, Mark Edelstein talks markets, financing strategy, and surviving presidential tweets.
Despite the fast global growth in the international green bond market, Latin America has only recently started to adopt the trend. The region’s infrastructure and investment needs present a major opportunity for green bond growth, but a lot of groundwork is still needed to gets investors comfortable.
Despite Argentina's recent FX troubles, investor appetite for its new $26 billion PPP programme remains strong – in part because investors are taking a long term view, but also because of the bankability built into the way the concessions are structured.
The ICC has established a working group aimed at fostering a greater sustainable development agenda in export finance. Is it just tinkering? And does it have any chance of making real change?
As a growing number of blockchain initiatives start live testing, albeit in controlled environments, trade tech is moving to an even more confusing level – a plethora of rival product claims backed by proofs of concept. Choice of tech and provider is about to get even more complicated.
As Noble Group looks to force through a controversial restructuring amid lawsuits and media spats with shareholders, what could a new Noble look like? And will regulatory change follow the trader’s downfall?
Since the CDP-SACE-SIMEST restructuring in 2012, SACE has transformed from tired state relic into one of the world’s leading providers of export credit cover. It has the funding, it has the products – but most of all it has local knowledge from its listening posts in key Italian export markets.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) recently launched a new advisory practice – the ECA Advisory Practice for Capital Projects – aimed at helping export credit agencies deal with increasingly complex capital projects. Co-heads of the new team – Heiko Lentge and Alexander Wuermeling – outline the benefit to ECAs of their new approach.
Five years on from the Mexico's landmark energy sector reforms, a spate of recent financings – one without DFI backing – support market expectation that the pace of project financing in the domestic renewables market will pick up over the coming year.
Sanjeev Gupta is the man behind the ascent of Liberty House from commodity trading start-up into an international metals and industrials group. And in conversation with TXF, Gupta appears to have only got started.
Having made a splash in the retail and SME banking spaces, a new breed of lender is setting its eyes on the trade finance market. But what are these newbies to traditional lenders and will they really inject more competition into the trade lending space?
A pioneering loan/bond financing for Colombia's Ruta al Mar highway project may serve as the shot in the arm needed to reignite appetite for the country’s 4G roads financing programme after a year spent on the sidelines.
Iran has yet to produce the project and trade flows bankers hoped for following signing of the JCPOA in 2016. The hurdles are largely born of the Trump administration – but not all. And while European lenders remain wary, Iran is looking eastward for debt.
Colombia’s $70 billion infrastructure programme has hit a few bankability hurdles in the past year. But the government has reacted proactively and is generating significant new lender interest in the second phase of its 4G Highway PPP plan.
Pemex kicked off 2017 with a record-breaking eurobond and the announcement of a halving of losses in 2016. The debt-ridden oil producer has even put in place an innovative supply chain finance programme backed up by Nafinsa and Greensill Capital. But should investors and lenders still exercise extreme caution?
Uruguay is the MacGyver of clean energy development. Equipped with just some pocket change from the UN’s climate fund, the country has become a global standard-bearer for wind power in just a decade. But is the market nearing saturation in terms of project borrowing?
In the latest edition of law firm Sullivan & Worcester's Trade Finance Breakfast Seminars, partner Geoffrey Wynne provides a round-up of the current issues facing the trade space, summing up the regulatory landscape as well as touching on developments in industry documentation.
Ollie Gordon, TXF's news & features editor, picks his favourite export & agency finance stories of 2016.
In the latest edition of law firm Sullivan & Worcester's Trade Finance Breakfast Seminars, partner Simon Cook discusses payment instruments and other trade-related documentation.
In the latest edition of law firm Sullivan & Worcester's Trade Finance Breakfast Seminars, partner Geoffrey Wynne discusses whether digitalisation can end paper-based trade finance, and to what extent that is happening now.
In the latest edition of law firm Sullivan & Worcester's Trade Finance Breakfast Seminars, partner Marian Boyle provides a practical guide to the Insurance Act 2015 for commercial policyholders.
It’s that time of year again… Everyone here at TXF is very proud to present to you 2016’s second edition of our biannual magazine, The TXF Chronicle – the best of TXF News from the past six months.
While trade between Argentina and the UK has not been as strong as with other Latin American countries in recent years, the election of a new Argentine government has led to more constructive talks and greater potential for co-operation.UK exporters are therefore well placed to tap into one of the largest markets in Latin America. To discuss these opportunities in detail, the Latin America desk head of Santander, Mauricio Munguia, sat down with UKTI’s country officer for Argentina, Tim Hanson.
UK Export Finance’s CEO, Louis Taylor, sits down with Ollie Gordon to discuss the export credit agency’s financial results for 2015/16, as well as touching on Brexit’s potential effects on the UK export sector.
Available on demand: A premium online event focusing on recent and forthcoming developments across regional export & project finance with unbeatable networking opportunities across each market.
TXF is pleased to bring you an exclusive webinar event for commodity finance executives engaged in the Asia Pacific commodities market.
TXF's stages for change initiative is a space to celebrate the diverse experts in our industry. We shine a light on the underrepresented communities that make the market stand out.
The ultimate guide to Export Finance in Germany. Senior attendees from banks and exporters gather every year to make new connections and plan ahead...could you be one of them?
Roll up, roll up for the latest updates on Spanish Export Finance. This annual gathering will take you to the heart of the market and introduce you to senior decision-makers who make deals happen.
4 conferences in 1 - TXF will be coming to Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid and London for 4, 1 day events covering all the latest updates in the local export market. Pick your favourite and join us!
We're reuniting the French Export Finance industry to discuss trends in the market and make new valuable connections. Join us in Paris to get ahead of next year's deals.
Our first UK Export Finance event is coming to town this September. Delve into the local market and make high-level contacts that might just lead to your next deal...
A gathering of all the key players in MENA - a chance to shake hands, exchange business cards and plan ahead for another year of successful deal-making!
TXF Global Commodity Finance 2020 conference goes back to the future . Join deal makers from across the globe for an unmissable virtual event in May and physical event in Geneva later on in the year
Join the crowds of exporters, ECAs, banks and insurers gathering to share their expertise and predictions for Asian project and export finance.
The only dedicated forum for the APAC trade and commodity finance community. Join dealmakers from across Asia-Pacific as we tackle key industry issues and analyse the latest deals in the market.